Results
BROWNSVILLE, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's tennis team's 2015-16 season came to an end Saturday afternoon in a 5-2 loss to West Virginia State University in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Roadman Park in Brownsville, Pennsylvania.
Slippery Rock ends it year with an overall record of 14-10. SRU has now produced eight winning seasons and eight NCAA Tournament appearances over the last decade. West Virginia State improved to 17-4 and will play California (Pa.) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Sunday.
The Rock came out of doubles play with a 2-1 lead, but West Virginia State rallied in the singles portion of the match with four straight wins to secure the win.
SRU's doubles wins came out of the second and third flights.
Nina Barbano and
Amanda Bruscemi defeated Kayla McKnight and Laura Isbey, 8-4, in the second slot while
Stephanie Fortier and
Kylee Woodman downed Diana Cotoros and Brenda Cumpa, 8-4 in the third flight.
Bruscemi and Barbano finish the season with an impressive 9-1 record as a pairing. The veteran duo of Woodman and Fortier were close behind with an 8-1 mark on the year.
The Yellow Jackets' lone doubles point came in the first flight where Brittany Franco and Nina Dillwald beat
Tiffany Kollah and
Carla Corrochano Moracho, 8-5.
West Virginia State overcame its deficit and sealed the opening-round victory with wins in the first, third, fourth and fifth flights of singles play.
In the top flight, Franco defeated Corrochano 6-2, 6-2. Dillwald matched her teammates performance with a 6-2, 6-2 win of her own at third singles over Kollah.
Charlotte Sandy and Cotoros also recorded points in singles play for West Virginia State out of the fourth and fifth flights, respectively. Sandy earned a 6-1, 6-3 win against Bruscemi and Cotoros beat Fortier 6-1, 6-0.
Barbano's and
Allie Welch's matches at second and sixth singles were not finished due to WVSU getting the required fifth point and making a Rock comeback impossible.
Despite the singles losses, The Rock still had six players end the year with winning records with Barbano leading the way at 17-10 followed by Corrochano (14-10), Welch (14-11), Kollah (14-12), Bruscemi (13-12), Woodman (6-5) and
Courtney Gallagher (1-0).
Still one of the younger teams in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, all seven players to compete for Slippery Rock Saturday still have at least one year of eligibility remaining.
